It happened that there was a famine in Shandong in northern Anhui, and there were many hungry people. Although Zhou You and Li Kaifang had not many people, in just two or three months, they gathered tens of thousands by plundering the powerful and evil gentry and opening warehouses to release grain.

A large number of people and horses.

As if Zhou You was carrying a mobile warehouse, he could take out a large number of ordnance and even firearms with a wave of his hand. Not to mention that the rebels who quickly gathered under his command regarded him as a god. Even Li Kaifang couldn't help but suspect that Zhou You was a god descending to earth.

Saved them.

Next, Zhou You and Li Kaifang led tens of thousands of well-equipped rebels all the way to Lin Fengxiang's town. After a little experience in the fire of war and having spiritual beliefs, their fighting power was no less than that of Taiping.

The army's men and horses are gone.

Therefore, even though those who besieged Lin Fengxiang and the others were elite Qing troops, once the wandering troops arrived, with the power of their firearms, they still defeated the Qing army and relieved Lin Fengxiang.

At this time, although Lin Fengxiang only had two to three thousand defeated soldiers left around him, these Taiping soldiers who had experienced the baptism of war and life and death fights were truly elite and could be said to be reborn from the ashes.

With their joining, the tens of thousands of troops organized under Zhou You's command became even more powerful. Then the troops were divided into two groups. Li Kaifang led more than 20,000 people and dispersed into Shandong and Hebei for development. Zhou You and Lin Fengxiang led the three most elite troops.

Thousands of troops marched towards Cangzhou.

Now that we have made a trip to the north, with tens of thousands of people traveling around, we have reached the border of Zhili, the doorstep of the Qing court, it would be a pity not to try to conquer the capital in one fell swoop and overthrow the Qing Dynasty.

Well!

This is also the ultimate goal of Lin Fengxiang, Li Kaifang and others who have fought all the way here. Therefore, even if Zhou You doesn't want to attack the capital now, Lin Fengxiang and Li Kaifang will not give up easily.

The reason why Li Kaifang was allowed to lead people to develop in Shandong and Hebei and continue to strengthen the army was to leave a retreat. Even if the capital could not be conquered, he could retreat into the boundaries of Shandong and Hebei and continue to follow the path of surrounding the city from the countryside, allowing the Qing government to

The capital was surrounded by a sea of ​​peasant wars. In this way, it was only a matter of time before the capital was captured and the Qing Dynasty was overthrown.

Since the main force of the Qing army besieged Lin Fengxiang in Lian Town, Cangzhou has now become the logistics base of the Qing army. With the defeat of the main force of the Qing army, Seng Gelinqin led his troops to withdraw to Cangzhou, so they can be said to be chasing the Qing army around Zhouyou.

The defeated remnants of the army came to Cangzhou.

Therefore, as soon as Seng Gelinqin retreated into Cangzhou, he ordered the city gates to be closed tightly. For a while, he even lost the courage to fight. Facing Cangzhou, which was guarded by the main force of the Qing army, they were a little helpless for a while.

However, for Zhou You, it didn't make much sense whether he could capture Cangzhou or not. Therefore, seeing that there was nothing to do, Zhou You and Lin Fengxiang continued northward without hesitation, heading towards Tianjin.

He wanted to see if Seng Gelinqin would watch them go north again. Tianjin was in danger, and even the capital had become dangerous. Even if Seng Gelinqin wanted to hide in Cangzhou City, Emperor Xianfeng would quickly summon him to go north to King Qin.

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Sure enough, Zhou You and Lin Fengxiang had just led their troops to Jinghai, and before they could attack Tianjin, Seng Gelinqin led his troops from Cangzhou to kill him. At the same time, as the commander-in-chief of the Qing army to suppress the Taiping Army, he was also the victory of the imperial envoy.

Bao Ye has already led the troops and rushed over.

Zhou You led his people to wait for work, and gave Seng Gelinqin a head-on attack at Jinghai. The Qing army he brought was defeated again, and almost killed Seng Gelinqin. Then, without waiting for the reinforcements of Shengbao to arrive, he rushed northward without waiting for reinforcements.

They went to attack Tianjin and directly crossed the river and followed the canal towards the capital. For a time, the Qing government and the capital were shocked.

Although there are many troops around the capital, and there are tens of thousands of defenders inside and outside the capital, a large number of troops have been deployed to encircle and suppress Lin Fengxiang and others, so that the defenses of Tongzhou, Tianjin and other places are empty.

Although there are still tens of thousands of Qing troops in the capital, the once very powerful Eight Banners soldiers have long been corrupted and have experienced little war, so that their combat effectiveness has seriously declined. They can even be said to be just a group of wealthy idlers who rely on the imperial court to support them.

Even though the equipment of the Qing capital's garrison is still relatively sophisticated, it is still not possible to fight a tough battle. I am afraid that they will not be able to defeat the Taiping Army, let alone the army led by Zhou You, which is equipped with many muskets, artillery and other firearms.

of elite soldiers.

Historically, in the Opium War a few years later, the British and French forces, numbering less than 20,000, easily defeated the Qing army with their foreign guns and artillery, forcing Emperor Xianfeng to flee to Jehol Chengde and occupy the capital.

Now, with Senggelinqin's troops being defeated one after another and Shengbao's troops not having time to return to the capital to aid, the capital, which has a relatively empty military base, is naturally unable to defend itself against the enemy.

The Qing army accompanying Fengtai camp came to block Zhou You's men and was defeated in a panic. Zhou You, who was pursuing the victory, went straight to the outside of the capital city.

At this time, Emperor Xianfeng didn't even have time to escape, and with Zhou You's men fighting to the capital, he didn't even dare to escape. After all, if he ran away at this time, he would probably be intercepted and killed by Zhou You, so why not go out and die?

However, is it really safe to be trapped in the capital? With the defeat of the Fengtai camp, the number of defenders in the capital was even smaller, and the morale of the troops was also in chaos.

After all, since the founding of the Qing Dynasty, this is the first time that troops have come to the city. It makes people think of the Ming Dynasty when Li Zicheng attacked the capital. Is it possible that the Qing Dynasty will follow in the footsteps of the Ming Dynasty and perish?

While the people of the Qing court in the city were panicking, Zhou You also directly mobilized artillery to attack Andingmen. After a burst of shelling, Lin Fengxiang personally led the troops into the capital in one fell swoop.

The siege went unexpectedly smoothly, because the artillery obtained by Zhouyou was too powerful, and the Eight Banners soldiers' combat effectiveness was really not good enough.

Even Zhou You didn't expect that this battle would go so smoothly. It's no wonder that the Qing government suffered repeated setbacks in the face of foreign invaders, ceded territory and paid indemnities, and was passively beaten!

Even the Eight Banners soldiers were so bad that they needed to rely on the strength of the Han army to deal with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the Nian Army, and the uprising of the White Lotus Sect. The army was no longer good. If a country's fundamentals are shaken, how can it not survive?

If the Qing army could block Zhou You's troops at Andingmen, they might still have some morale. Now that the city was easily broken, it is conceivable how serious the blow to the morale of the Qing army was, so that the entire capital quickly became chaotic.

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Zhou You and Lin Fengxiang led their troops to attack the Forbidden City in the inner city of the capital with almost overwhelming force. Their troops also dispersed to pursue the fleeing Qing army, and quickly controlled every city gate in the capital, closing the door to beat a dog, and continued the siege.

The Qing troops who had time to escape from the city, and all the Manchu dignitaries, officials, wealthy gentry, etc. in the city also became turtles in the urn and fish on the chopping board.

Although the defense of the inner city was tighter, due to insufficient troops, low morale, and floating public sentiment, it was quickly conquered. Zhou You and Lin Fengxiang were able to lead their troops directly into the Forbidden City. If you like movies and TV shows, please sign in.
Chapter completed!